JAZZ

The latest releases reviewed

MYRIAM ALTER Where Is There enja *****

Alter's Jewish-Spanish heritage, classical training, jazz background and Latin American and French cultural influences have forged a singularly expressive compositional voice. Where Is There, with Jaques Morelenbaum (cello), John Ruocco (clarinet), Pierre Vaiana (soprano), Salvatore Bonafede (piano), Greg Cohen (bass) and Joey Baron (drums), is her finest work yet. Alter has a rare talent for lovely, folklike melodies, illuminated by a gift for blending rhythmic diversity, tonal colour and contrast with structure; every piece has a sense of completeness, blurring the borders between the written and the improvised. There is substance, too, behind the melancholy beauty in the grave gaiety of the dancelike Was It There and its cousins, It Could Be There and Catch Me There. It can also be found in the sombre dignity of September 11 and the stunning I'm Telling You, Still in Love, Come With Me and In Sicily, where the solos grow, as always, organically out of the context. Memorable. www.enjarecords.com

TRIO DA PAZ & JOE LOCKE Live at Jazz Baltica MaxJazz ****

If there is an enduring verity about this exhilarating live encounter between the Joe Locke, great vibist, and Trio Da Paz, the super-group

of Brazilian jazz, it's the kind of excitement that happens when a band of brilliant musicians is in carpe diem mode and simply seizes the moment. Impressive as Romero Lubambo (guitar), Nilson Matta (bass) and Duduka Da Fonseca (drums) are, it's Locke, on five out of eight tracks, who is the alchemist. On song, they are electrifying on the uptempo Dona Maria, and on Bachiao, where the unison vibes and guitar lines are brilliantly articulated - the guitar and vibes solos aren't bad, either. The quartet grooves euphorically on the medium bossa of Copacabana and reaches a joint lyrical high point on Locke's graceful Swords of Whispers with some gorgeous vibes and heart-on-sleeve guitar. Just fine musicians doing their thing. www.maxjazz.com

TERJE ISUNGSET Ice Concerts All Ice ***Isungset, who makes sounds from natural things, personifies the try-anything ethos of Norwegian musicians. Ice Concerts was recorded on tour last year in Norway and Japan in below-zero conditions (some were done outdoors in -33C, under an aurora borealis sky). Isungset makes music from icehorns, ice percussion, flute and voice, either solo or in duo settings with the renowned trumpeter Arve Henriksen; Saami joik folk vocalist Sara Marielle Gaup (the Saami are an indigenous people of northern Norway); folk singer Unni Lovlid; jazz singer Lena Nymark; and opera singer Silvia Moi. The music, naturally, is limited in range, and a translation would have helped with the lyrics. But it's a fascinating, atavistic, other- worldly experience to hear Isungset "liberate" these haunting, enigmatic sounds from nature at its harshest and put them at the service of art - and beauty. www.musicconnection. org.uk